Stirring(蠢動) (2)
"Hm?"
It was when I had safely secured the bell I'd luckily obtained at my waist and reached the mountainside.
Just as I thought about rejoining Soo-ah, a familiar energy drifted in on the wind.
'Did a dungeon just appear?'
I had a vague feeling from the moment I first arrived at Mount Seorak.
A familiar energy I'd felt in another world.
Hunters like Ah-yeon probably hadn't sensed this properly yet, but at least I was different.
The blood flowing through my body— it sensed it clearly.
'So there really are demons here?'
An erosive-type dungeon.
These days it was known as just a dungeon with an extremely low probability of occurrence, but the reality was entirely different.
Erosive-type dungeons were a kind of test site artificially created by demons.
I'd seen it several times in the other world, and had tried to stop it.
And since I'd ultimately managed to block it, that was how I was here now.
'I already sensed something from that bracelet, but as expected someone from the management agencies are connected to the demons.'
I suspected it was someone from the Javelin Guild.
But it was very difficult to guess their motives.
Since these guys originally parasitized other worlds, appearing on Earth could be expected, but could their capacity to invade other worlds have recovered so quickly?
And the first erosive dungeon occurred exactly one hundred years ago, at the same time as the 'awakeners' began to appear on this world.
'Were they involved with Earth simultaneously? But only a few months ago, they were smashed to pieces.'
The timing felt strange, but for now, dealing with the present crisis took priority.
Fortunately, judging from the energy I felt, it wasn't an erosive dungeon of especially dangerous level.
With Super Hunter K filming, civilians were banned from entering, and numerous Hunters were spread out through the mountains, so handling it was relatively easy.
"Well, at this rate, the roaming Hunters will probably find and destroy the core soon enough."
Since the erosion had just recently begun, the contaminated land would probably recover quickly.
And given that Ah-yeon hadn't said anything special, it didn't seem like there was much to worry about...
【Oppa, an erosive dungeon has appeared.】
Before my thoughts could finish, Ah-yeon's voice echoed in my head.
It was telepathic magic— a 5th-circle spell.
【I know. I'm the one who told you, remember?】
【Ugh, you just said a dungeon had appeared, not that it was an erosive dungeon, didn't you?】
【That's true.】
After replying as if it were nothing, I asked about the current situation with the filming crew.
【What's it like right now? Have you reported that it's an erosive-type dungeon? Nothing out of the ordinary happened, right?】
【I told Hunter Baek Hojun first, so things have gotten pretty hectic.】
【What about the filming? Is it going to continue?】
【For now, yes, since there's no visible danger immediately. Producer Do insists he can't believe it...】
Even after Baek Hojun said so, they didn't believe it?
Well, I suppose there weren't any outward signs to see, so it made sense.
And surely, aren't there hundreds of cameras set up in the mountains?
【Still, Baek Hojun is an S-rank hunter, so people usually believe him, right?】
【I think since they've invested so much in filming, it's hard to withdraw so rashly.】
【Fair, for Producer Do, it would be hard to pull out with nothing visibly wrong.】
If filming stopped here, the third mission would basically end in a mess.
Considering the scale of this mission, they must have spent a lot on it, and it must have been their secret weapon.
But if the mission ended here, they'd have to create a new third mission, and there wouldn't be enough time or budget to film it again.
The second episode is supposed to air this week, so if they had to refilm the third episode, there could even be a break in broadcasting.
'And that's not good for us either.'
This third mission was very favorable for Soo-ah and me.
Even the loss in the second mission could be recovered here, and perhaps with a big score, we could immediately shoot up to the higher ranks.
And with Soo-ah's abilities, there would already be plenty of good scenes filmed.
'If a new mission is given, there's no way they'll make it so we can get as many points as this one.'
Producer Do probably never imagined we'd grab points like this.
Even without my side bet, since he designated Soo-ah as a 'villain', he wouldn't be happy with us doing too well.
If the third mission had to be refilmed, it would likely be designed against us.
【... So then, filming will probably continue for the time being. Anything else special?】
【Yes. Ji Yeon-hwa is missing.】
【Ji Yeon-hwa? That witch from Upstream?】
【Yeah, the one who kept picking fights with me...】
I couldn't help feeling surprised to hear Ji Yeon-hwa's name here.
If anyone was involved in this incident, I'd assumed it would be someone from Javelin, or others related to Javelin's management.
'What are the odds...?'
I had to solve the dungeon issue to keep filming going, and now I was curious about Ji Yeon-hwa's whereabouts, too.
The timing of her disappearance suggested she might be linked to the erosive dungeon.
【I'll look for Ji Yeon-hwa.】
【You sure about that?】
【Yeah, I don't have anything to do right now anyway. Since filming is still ongoing, there's nothing more to do but keep watching. And with representative Choi here, interviews and such will be fine even if I'm not around.】
【... Alright. But be careful, okay?】
I didn't think it would come to that, but if a conflict broke out with Ji Yeon-hwa, Ah-yeon would be at a disadvantage.
Even though Ah-yeon's circle magic developed abnormally quickly, it would be a stretch for her to take on someone as close to S-rank as Ji Yeon-hwa.
【Don't worry about me, just get as many points as you can in the third mission. And you'll take care of the dungeon, right? Should I tell you how to dismantle an erosive dungeon?】
【I already know.】
【Yeah, I figured as much. Anyway, be careful.】
With that, Ah-yeon's voice went silent.
She was probably on the move to look for Ji Yeon-hwa.
"... Guess I'd better meet up with Soo-ah now."
It looked like things were about to get busier.
***
A Javelin Guild executive had told her—
On the day Super Hunter K was filmed, a dungeon would appear, and she'd be able to get an ultimate magic stone there.
Trusting only those words, Ji Yeon-hwa sneaked out to look for the dungeon, dodging people's eyes and cameras.
There wasn't much for her to do as a mentor today anyway, and if she slipped out for a bit, no one would be searching for her.
'It would have been better if the shoot location was somewhere else.'
Biting her lower lip, Ji Yeon-hwa quickened her pace.
She briefly considered moving after the filming was done, but if the dungeon showed up during filming?
And if another Hunter found the dungeon first and took the ultimate magic stone, she couldn't stand the thought.
'... This feeling...'
But it didn't take her long to realize something was off.
The air felt strangely stale, and the magic power response was somehow odd.
At first, she didn't think much of it, but—
"Grrrk?"
When a monster that should not exist appeared from the bushes, she realized what was happening.
'Why is there a monster here? I never heard of a gate opening...'
Normally, monsters only appeared in the real world if a gate opened.
If a gate had opened, she would have noticed, and the filming wouldn't be happening at all.
'... The Javelin Guild told me a dungeon would manifest here, but not what kind it would be.'
To use this place as a filming location, they'd done endless background checks.
The date was confirmed to be free of both dungeons and gates.
The opposite of what Javelin Guild had stated.
Yet right now, a monster stood before Ji Yeon-hwa's eyes.
Which meant Javelin Guild's information had been correct.
'If it's not a gate, and if a standard dungeon forecast didn't catch it...'
Ji Yeon-hwa was a veteran who'd been in the business a long time.
She could guess roughly what this was.
"An erosive dungeon."
A situation that doesn't normally occur.
Having deduced this far, Ji Yeon-hwa couldn't help but laugh.
"Yes, that's it. The reason it's so hard to get ultimate magic stones is because they're not in standard locations."
Ultimate magic stone— with double the purity of regular magic stones and massive magic power capacity.
They're valuable items, virtually impossible to obtain, used to craft powerful artifacts.
Especially if a mage absorbs one, the base total of their magic power increases— basically an elixir in stone form.
That's why getting them through ordinary means is so difficult— most trade is done in secret.
'So that's why they're so hard to get— they come from erosive dungeons?'
The only known erosive dungeons left were the 'Five Great Demonic Zones', and the rest had all been cleared before they could become Demonic Zones, leaving almost no information.
If ultimate magic stones could only be obtained from erosive dungeons, it made sense that their source was unknown.
'No, it's still too soon to be sure.'
The problem was— where in an erosive dungeon could one be found?
If they were easy to get, many more Hunters would have challenged those Demonic Zones.
'But...'
If she could secure just a few from here, she could take another step towards S-rank.
'No— this time, I'll reach S-rank for sure.'
It was right in front of her.
Ji Yeon-hwa felt it.
That moment when she absorbed her first ultimate magic stone and broke through a 'wall'.
That she was now closer than ever to the realm she'd thought forever beyond reach: S-rank.
'This time, I'll overtake you.'
Shin Ah-yeon.
She knew it was a one-sided feeling.
After all, she'd only met Shin Ah-yeon for a brief moment three years ago.
But the shock she'd felt then—she hadn't forgotten it to this day.
Despair.
Inferiority.
The total humiliation.
It had hit Ji Yeon-hwa all the harder because she'd always been so proud of her abilities.
And after three years, when she thought she'd shaken off that nightmare, it returned and made her impatient.
That's why she'd reached for the ultimate magic stones.
To chase after Shin Ah-yeon, to borrow the power of something she'd once brushed by by coincidence.
Turning her back on a mage's pride, but she didn't regret it.
"I need to find it, quickly."
Countless other Hunters were all around Mount Seorak today.
If there were only a tiny handful of ultimate magic stones to be found in the erosive dungeon, one of them could grab it first.
Maybe it was thanks to Ji Yeon-hwa's desperate longing—
But it wasn't long before she found it.
A more beautiful, purer ultimate magic stone than anything she'd ever seen before.
***
BOOM!
A tremor shook one part of the mountain.
Not loud enough for anyone, but any Hunter would have heard it.
The Hunters, deep in their third mission, all paused, wondering what had just happened.
"Did a landslide just happen somewhere?"
"No, it felt different than that... Doesn't everything feel a little suffocating, too?"
The Hunters, unaware an erosive dungeon was currently active, were starting to sense the subtly changing environment.
The air growing oppressive, bodies feeling strangely heavy.
"Manager, what was that tremor just now?"
Meanwhile, Soo-ah seemed oblivious to it all, only mentioning the recent vibration.
Considering how sensitive she was to magic power—on par with Ah-yeon—I thought she'd notice right away, but apparently not.
'Maybe it's because of her magic power fission? Or just Soo-ah's magic power's natural tendency?'
Blue flames were something most Hunters who underwent magic power fission would encounter at some point.
But thinking back to how she fended off Ah-yeon's magic, there seemed to be something else to Soo-ah's magic power.
'Come to think of it, I heard that after the third mana hall opens, weird things like that can happen.'
The first mana hall, in the lower abdomen, lets you use magic power.
The second, near the solar plexus, increases the amount of usable magic power greatly and lets you handle it as naturally as your arms and legs.
The third, in the head, sometimes causes not just quantity but the nature of magic power itself to change.
Like magic, the mana may radiate heat, or cold, etc.
That kind of additional attribute is infused in the magic power itself.
Supposedly, when you reach a certain level, your mental image can influence the nature of your magic power, but that's not really relevant for me, so my knowledge is limited.
Anyway, since Soo-ah's third mana hall had been practically open from the start, I figured such tendencies might just be clearer with her.
"It seems like a dungeon has appeared."
"A dungeon? But no one said anything about that..."
"It's an erosive dungeon, so it might be hard to notice."
"Erosive... dungeon?"
It was such a rare dungeon that Soo-ah didn't seem to know what an erosive dungeon was.
"The tremor just now was probably either the terrain changing as the dungeon's erosion accelerated... or someone might have touched the core."
"Why the core?"
"An erosive dungeon's core is different from an ordinary dungeon's. Bad things happen if you touch it carelessly, so never handle it on your own."
"R-really? Wh-what kind of bad...?"
"Well, honestly, I don't think there'll be a problem..."
It just started appearing, so there was no real need to worry.
The monsters that spawned weren't very strong, and even if one touched the core, nothing serious would happen.
Or so I was about to explain—
When Ah-yeon's urgent voice rang out.
【There's big trouble! Something that looks like Ji Yeon-hwa is heading toward the filming crew!!】
This is why you shouldn't ever jump to conclusions.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Yeah, inferiority complex can make you do stupid things.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】